Follow God?

“Forty years later, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush in the wilderness near Mount Sinai. Enthralled by the sight, Moses approached to get a closer look and he heard the Lord’s voice: ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Trembling with fear, Moses didn’t dare to investigate any further. The Lord continued, ‘Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have clearly seen the oppression my people have experienced in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning. I have come down to rescue them. Come! I am sending you to Egypt.’ “This is the same Moses whom they rejected when they asked, ‘Who appointed you as our leader and judge?’ This is the Moses whom God sent as leader and deliverer. God did this with the help of the angel who appeared before him in the bush. This man led them out after he performed wonders and signs in Egypt at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness. This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’ This is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness with our ancestors and with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai. He is the one who received life-giving words to give to us. He’s also the one whom our ancestors refused to obey. Instead, they pushed him aside and, in their thoughts and desires, returned to Egypt. They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will lead us. As for this Moses who led us out of Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him!’ (Acts 7:30-40, CEB)

God has a plan and a way.

What happens is we get in the way. We think we know what is best and we start to make God’s way into our way. We don’t get the timing or the methods. We want miracles our way, on our timetable. But that isn’t how God works. The movie, My Sister’s Keeper starts out with a black screen and a quote, “If you want to make God laugh, tell God your plans.” Our plans really don’t matter.

We can not just change the plan or ask for something different because we do not understand. We need to follow. Trusting the creator of the universe has it all under control.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Once you weren’t…

Now you are coming to him as to a living stone. Even though this stone was rejected by humans, from God’s perspective it is chosen, valuable. You yourselves are being built like living stones into a spiritual temple. You are being made into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Thus it is written in scripture, Look! I am laying a cornerstone in Zion, chosen, valuable. The person who believes in him will never be shamed. So God honors you who believe. For those who refuse to believe, though, the stone the builders tossed aside has become the capstone. This is a stone that makes people stumble and a rock that makes them fall. Because they refuse to believe in the word, they stumble. Indeed, this is the end to which they were appointed. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who are God’s own possession. You have become this people so that you may speak of the wonderful acts of the one who called you out of darkness into his amazing light. Once you weren’t a people, but now you are God’s people. Once you hadn’t received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:4-10, CEB)

You are living stones. The true cornerstone was rejected by those who should have known and accepted him, but yet they didn’t. They were focused on their power and status. The things that keep us from loving others. We love our things and status too much to let people get in the way. When we stop loving things and power and using people to keep us there and start loving people and using the things we have and the power we have to make the world right for everyone is when we will be living stones and the foundation for the world God intended.

You were not a people, but now you are. When you realize that people are to be loved and things used and everyone is to be made equal.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Light

As long as you have the light, believe in the light so that you might become people whose lives are determined by the light.” After Jesus said these things, he went away and hid from them. Jesus had done many miraculous signs before the people, but they didn’t believe in him. This was to fulfill the word of the prophet Isaiah: Lord, who has believed through our message? To whom is the arm of the Lord fully revealed? Isaiah explains why they couldn’t believe: He made their eyes blind and closed their minds so that they might not see with their eyes, understand with their minds, and turn their lives around—and I would heal them. Isaiah said these things because he saw Jesus’ glory; he spoke about Jesus. Even so, many leaders believed in him, but they wouldn’t acknowledge their faith because they feared that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. They believed, but they loved human praise more than God’s glory. (John 12:36-43, CEB)

As long as you have light, share that light. Do not love the praise of others more than doing what God has called us to.

That, my friends, is the trouble with the world today. We want the likes. We want the shares. We want people to notice us and remember us. We try to puff ourselves up when that isn’t what life is about.

Life is about being the light in a world that needs love.

Life is about looking out for the other, rather than worrying about yourself.

Life is about helping the unseen be seen, rather than making ourselves more seen.

Be the light.

Share the love.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Seeing…

Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don’t see. The elders in the past were approved because they showed faith.By faith we understand that the universe has been created by a word from God so that the visible came into existence from the invisible.
All these people died in faith without receiving the promises, but they saw the promises from a distance and welcomed them. They confessed that they were strangers and immigrants on earth. People who say this kind of thing make it clear that they are looking for a homeland. If they had been thinking about the country that they had left, they would have had the opportunity to return to it. But at this point in time, they are longing for a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God isn’t ashamed to be called their God—he has prepared a city for them. By faith Abraham offered Isaac when he was tested. The one who received the promises was offering his only son. He had been told concerning him, Your legitimate descendants will come from Isaac. He figured that God could even raise him from the dead. So in a way he did receive him back from the dead. (Hebrews 11:1-3, 13-19, CEB)

Faith is hope in what we can not see. This makes me remember the line from The Santa Clause 2, “Seeing isn’t believing, believing is seeing.” We always want proof. And faith is believing in something that can not be proven.

Hebrews chapter 11 is the faith hall of fame. Everyone who trusted God despite everything and everyone being against them. It is a chapter that shows us that we can trust God.

So do not rely on sight. Trust that God is moving and working in your world.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Love/Hate

But he says to his Son,
God, your throne is forever
        and your kingdom’s scepter is a rod of justice.
You loved righteousness and hated lawless behavior.
        That is why God, your God,
        has anointed you more than your companions with the oil of joy.
And he says,
You, Lord, laid the earth’s foundations in the beginning,
        and the heavens are made by your hands.
They will pass away,
        but you remain.
They will all wear out like old clothes.
        You will fold them up like a coat.
They will be changed like a person changes clothes,
        but you stay the same,
        and the years of your life won’t come to an end.
(Hebrews 1:8-12, CEB)

God is a god of Love. God loves righteousness and hates lawless behavior.

God hates those who are self-centered and only considers their needs and what will be best for them. The world is not about us making it higher. We are supposed to love and help others. Everything in this world will fade, except for God and God’s love.

Anything you do that is not loving another part of creation is not what God is leading us and calling us to do.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Know Your Place…

Then Jesus began to teach his disciples: “The Human One must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and the legal experts, and be killed, and then, after three days, rise from the dead.” He said this plainly. But Peter took hold of Jesus and, scolding him, began to correct him. Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, then sternly corrected Peter: “Get behind me, Satan. You are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.” After calling the crowd together with his disciples, Jesus said to them, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me and because of the good news will save them. Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? What will people give in exchange for their lives? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the Human One will be ashamed of that person when he comes in the Father’s glory with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:31-38, CEB)

I love this text. Jesus says to Peter, “ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου, σατανᾶ.” Get Behind me, Satan. Because Peter was trying to dictate how things were going to go and what the plan was. Like he knew better than God what should happen. The thing I really love about this text is the phrase, ὀπίσω μου. Behind me in our text today. But in Mark 1:17 we see this same phrase, ὀπίσω μου, and there it is translated as Follow me.

The words Jesus used to call the disciples to follow him are the same words he says to Peter to rebuke him. Basically in Pastor Jerry’s understanding, this is a know-your-place. You are to be behind me. I have told congregations and classes before that if you do not see the back of Jesus’ head you are in the wrong spot. Maybe the pictures we have of Jesus in our congregations and homes should be the back of his head.

Jesus is the one leading. God is in control, not us. When we think we know better we should hear, “ὀπίσω μου” and know our place.

Remember who is leading, and be a light to the world.

Love Like Jesus.

ὀπίσω μου

Loving People. Loving God.

Who am I?

Jesus and his disciples went into the villages near Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”

They told him, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others one of the prophets.”

He asked them, “And what about you? Who do you say that I am?”

Peter answered, “You are the Christ.” Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone about him. (Mark 8:27-30, CEB)

How do we define ourselves?

It seems even Jesus knew that some of what society thinks we are is what others say about us. We like Jesus may want to ask “Who do people say that I am?”

I would say we should only do this to get a feel for how we are perceived because society does not determine who I am. Who you are is not determined by society. Who defines you is God, and you.

Jesus was not defined by society. We are defined by God. No one else can tell you who you are.

Worry about making God and yourself happy and let others see you and wonder at the beauty and strength of our light living our your calling as a beloved child of God who knows who they are and lives that out loud.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Credited…

So what are we going to say? Are we going to find that Abraham is our ancestor on the basis of genealogy? Because if Abraham was made righteous because of his actions, he would have had a reason to brag, but not in front of God. What does the scripture say? Abraham had faith in God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Workers’ salaries aren’t credited to them on the basis of an employer’s grace but rather on the basis of what they deserve. But faith is credited as righteousness to those who don’t work, because they have faith in God who makes the ungodly righteous. In the same way, David also pronounces a blessing on the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from actions: Happy are those whose actions outside the Law are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Happy are those whose sin isn’t counted against them by the Lord. Is this state of happiness only for the circumcised or is it also for those who aren’t circumcised? We say, “Faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” So how was it credited? When he was circumcised, or when he wasn’t circumcised? In fact, it was credited while he still wasn’t circumcised, not after he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that comes from the faith he had while he still wasn’t circumcised. It happened this way so that Abraham could be the ancestor of all those people who aren’t circumcised, who have faith in God, and so are counted as righteous. He could also be the ancestor of those circumcised people, who aren’t only circumcised but who also walk in the path of faith, like our ancestor Abraham did while he wasn’t circumcised. (Romans 4:1-12, CEB)

We earn a salary, a wage for the work we do. It is not gifted to us. We put in the work and we make the money. If we do not work, we do not get paid.

But Grace doesn’t depend on us doing anything. We get grace because God wants to give it to us. We can not brag about the fact God loves us, because there is no one or no thing that God doesn’t love.

We are loved by God because God wants to love us. We can not earn that love, and we can not unearn that love. This does not mean we are free to not love and to be evil in the world. Ephesians 2:8-10 says this plainly. Here is my paraphrase: By grace you have been saved through faith, not of your own doing, it is a gift of God, not from your work, so that no one can boast. We were made in the image of God and set apart for the good works God set for us to do. We can not earn grace, but grace moves us to be agents of God’s love in the world.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Faith

But now God’s righteousness has been revealed apart from the Law, which is confirmed by the Law and the Prophets. God’s righteousness comes through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who have faith in him. There’s no distinction. All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, but all are treated as righteous freely by his grace because of a ransom that was paid by Christ Jesus. Through his faithfulness, God displayed Jesus as the place of sacrifice where mercy is found by means of his blood. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness in passing over sins that happened before, during the time of God’s patient tolerance. He also did this to demonstrate that he is righteous in the present time, and to treat the one who has faith in Jesus as righteous. What happens to our bragging? It’s thrown out. With which law? With what we have accomplished under the Law? No, not at all, but through the law of faith. We consider that a person is treated as righteous by faith, apart from what is accomplished under the Law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Isn’t God the God of Gentiles also? Yes, God is also the God of Gentiles. Since God is one, then the one who makes the circumcised righteous by faith will also make the one who isn’t circumcised righteous through faith. Do we then cancel the Law through this faith? Absolutely not! Instead, we confirm the Law. (Romans 3:21-31, CEB)

God’s righteousness comes through the faithfulness of Christ.

We have all fallen short of the mark God set for us. We do not measure up. But does that mean we just give up?

Not at all. God came to be with us in Jesus and showed us the mark is obtainable. All be it very hard and impossible for us, as we are constantly focused on our own self-awareness and well-being rather than that of others.

We need to trust God and follow where they leads us. We need to have faith in the process and know that we will always fall short and look to ourselves, but God made a way and has shown us how to live.

All are accepted because God made a way.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Since

Then the Spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness so that the devil might tempt him. After Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was starving. The tempter came to him and said, “Since you are God’s Son, command these stones to become bread.” Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread, but by every word spoken by God.” After that the devil brought him into the holy city and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him, “Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down; for it is written, I will command my angels concerning you, and they will take you up in their hands so that you won’t hit your foot on a stone.” Jesus replied, “Again it’s written, Don’t test the Lord your God.” Then the devil brought him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. He said, “I’ll give you all these if you bow down and worship me.” Jesus responded, “Go away, Satan, because it’s written,You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.” The devil left him, and angels came and took care of him. (Matthew 4:1-11, CEB)

I have always liked this passage because normally the statement from the Devil to Jesus is If you are…

But the CEB gets this right, I think. The Devil isn’t questioning Jesus’ identity. The Devil is trying to get Jesus to question Jesus’ identity.  Since you are the son of God…

What if Jesus does those things and it doesn’t work the way he thinks it will?

And that is what the Devil does to us. Makes us question our identity.

Remember the Devil knows your name and calls you by your sins. But God knows your sins and calls you by your name.

You are a beloved child of God. Don’t let anyone make you question that.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God